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the Federal Employee:

It has
been the subject of countless discussions
online, in the media, and around the water
coolers at federal workplace throughout the
nation: Do members of Congress get a better
deal than federal employees? Well today, we
have an answer to that question, and that
answer is yes.

According to a very well done article by
Stephen Losey at the Federal Times, members of
Congress not only receive better benefits, but
they get them faster and often cheaper than
their counterparts in the
rank-and-file.

The
daylight between lawmakers’ benefits and our
own is most apparent when comparing health
benefits. Like rank-and-file federal employees,
members of Congress are eligible to participate
in the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan
(FEHBP). However, according to Losey, lawmakers
are also eligible to receive primary care from
the U.S. Capitol’s Office of the Attending
Physician for an annual fee of just $503
dollars. Considering congressional salaries
start at $174,000 per year, this
taxpayer-subsidized health discount lawmakers
give to themselves is not just unfair, it is
completely unnecessary.

The way
that federal retirement annuities are
calculated represents another glaring
difference between Congress and the rest of us.
Under FERS, lawmakers’ pension accrues at 1.7
percent per year for their first 20 years of
service, compared to just 1% or 1.1% for the
rank-and-file. Under CSRS their pensions accrue
at a rate of 2.5% per annum compared to
1.5%-2%. The results of this disparity are
clear: the average annuities for FERS and CSRS
lawmakers were $40,140 and $69,012 per year,
where they were a mere $12,780 and $30,500 for
federal employees, respectively. Though the
large difference in salary is certainly a
factor, this only supports the notion that
Congress should not be receiving cushier
benefits than already underpaid rank-and-file
federal employees.

This
difference should come as no surprise, of
course. Congress has the power to make the
rules, and given their track record on
good-government policymaking, it is more or
less par for the course. The most absurd part
of this story, however, is that many of these
same politicians have been advocating
legislation to cut back on federal benefits,
water down federal retirement, and eliminate
the FEHB as we know it.

This is
not to say that all Congressional benefits are
better. In the interest of fairness, members of
Congress do get the same deal as everyone else
on their Thrift Savings Plan; but with a
$174,000 annual salary, we wouldn’t guess that
they’re feeling much of a pinch.